Serious byline question

A few of my coworkers use middle initials.

If I ever leave this business and start my own business, I'm thinking of going with my first initial, middle name. It works well together, and it's OK on things like a design business or event planning or something like that.

 

Your byline is your name, however you want it to appear.
You want to be Richie Writer, that's fine.
You want to be Richard B. Writer or R.B. Writer, that's fine, too.
Do what you want, not what anyone else thinks you should do.

 

I started using my middle initial in my byline after my grandfather died (my middle name was his first name). He was always very supportive of my career and I did it to remember him.

 

You're really full of shit if you do first initial, middle name, F. Scott Fitzgerald notwithstanding.

 

I agree with spnited

use your middle initial, your entire middle name, your first and middle initials, or your first initial and middle name. whatever you think sounds/looks best. readers will have warm or cold feelings based on what follows the byline, not the byline itself.

go for it.

 

Just having a little fun, not trying to be a dick.

 

I use first initial, middle name and last name. Why? Because I like it. Is it pretentious? Perhaps, but I still like it just the same.

 

I think I may start using a number.

Hejira Seven Henry.
or maybe
Hejira Sixty Nine Henry.

We shall see ...

 

Before I got married, I used my first name, middle initial and last name. I just liked it that way.

When I got married, I switched my byline to my first name, maiden name and married name. I kept my maiden name because my father has always supported my career and he didn't have a son, so there is no one to really carry on the name.

Bottom line -- do what you like. As I've learned, no one even looks at the byline until they have a problem with what's written beneath it and want to complain.

 

the pretentious thing is people who think they know everyone's inner motivations and judge them based upon that.

i use the middle initial. but it's a superstitious thing. when i went to college, my first professor of my first class, a 70-year-old ex-marine who had psoriasis, wore coffee-stained t-shirts and rode a motorcycle to school, told us to write our name as it appeared on the roll on a sign-in sheet each day.

i respected what he was about.

so i checked, and my name was listed as last, first MI. it was a new part of my life. i was starting new study habits, taking school seriously now and leaving my old lazy high school self behind. i bought in, and wrote my name with the middle initial that morning and in every class i took after that. every time.

that was way before i chose a journalism major. but when i started writing for the college rag, i kept it going — for no other reason than to stay consistent with my college identity. and i still use my middle intial at the paper i work at today.

some guys do it as tributes to loved ones they were named after. some do it to distinguish themselves from relatives. for some, like me, i'm sure it has nothing to do with journalism OR pretentiousness.

it's your byline. do what you want.